Illusions of Grandeur
by Rosaceae
Summary: OOOooooooo! Sppppoooookkkyy!


Aloha! How's that for a summer greeting? Well, I'm leaving for the beach in a few days. So I'm

gonna try to submit a lot of stuff before I leave. ^_^ Okey dokey, here's another fic. So please

read and review! Enjoy!

  
  


Disclaimer- Blah blah blah, I don't own Zelda, blah blah blah.

  
  


Illusions of Grandeur

  
  


Everything within you

Was as it lived in me,

So I knew every secret

That you had tried to keep.

I had seen through your eyes once

Because you looked through mine, 

And everything you witnessed

I saw at the same time.

Then the roads diverged,

And we took separate paths.

Mine was full of peace

As yours was sick with wrath.

  
  


Zelda watched and waited quietly, calmly, as the sun's golden fingers clenched their

warmth around the cool shadows, wringing them from the earth's rich surface. Even the smallest

drops of dew caught the dawn's radiance and wrought miniature rainbows beneath the grassy

canopy. Blade chased blade as the morning breeze began to breathe its essence into the air. Mists

still drifted atop Death Mountain, laden deep within the rocky crevices. The birds began to

strengthen their voices like a rising song. It was a picturesque awakening of Hyrule, of the world,

yet everything within Zelda was only beginning to die into an eternal slumber.

Another merciless night had passed, Zelda's heart once again being wretched with

emptiness. Her silent pleas for reconcile were completely smothered by the sobs that racked her

frail body well into the night. A lost princess to the world, her way back home was blinded from

her sight by the darkness of melancholy feelings that begged her to remain merely a shadow

amongst the blackness. But the light of day would manage to pull her through every time, if only

as the shell of a once spirited girl; a shell that had began to strengthen its bonds, a shell that had

began to engulf her very existence.

How many times must she lay in bed, awake with fear, awake with insecurity? Her brow

always ridden with sweat, sleep was unable to claim the fatigued mind of the princess. Zelda

watched herself, helplessly, as the mere remaining traces of sanity seemed to only pull her deeper

into an oblivion so dark that even the might of the goddesses could not penetrate it.

And then day would come.

Day, the only reminder that life still dwelled in her body, that night would have to end

eventually. And yet, even then, Zelda paced the halls, like a pale ghost weary of its haunt. She

sunk into the shadows, finding warmth in such coldness. Her voice was merely a breath of what it had once been. Even the wind from a butterfly's wing could dissipate Zelda's words.

Impa only watched, unable to help the withering princess, trying to reach out to help, but

always falling short of Zelda's sickly hand. In silent frustration, Zelda's attendant hid the truth of

the princess from the eye of the public, as well as from the skeptical eye of the king. If word ever

escaped from the palace walls of weakness within the Royal Family, then the infectious disease

would spread to Hyrule's people. So Impa cleverly hid the dire truth as Zelda only began to grow

worse.

Impa's attempt at concealing the cruel reality was not as impenetrable as she had made it

out to be. Link pursued the princess, following secretly behind, but how can one shadow a

shadow? He saw her everyday, from the darkness of the palace halls, as she wondered them aimlessly, filling the air with a gray depression. Link heard her heart-wrenching sobs in the dark of night, and he saw her blushed, tear-stained cheeks in the light of the morning. He was with her every moment of her darkest hours, yet Zelda never knew. How many days had it been since he had slept, since she had slept? Everything Link could remember had become an undescribable blur over the past tortuous weeks. But he refused to abandon Zelda's dependant side, he knew that someway, he could help her. 

Zelda never realized that beside her in the dark folds of the light there stood a hero who watched over, protecting her. Desperate for answers, she began to believe that the haunting presence that filled the air about her was her own insanity, choking her of breath. Despite that, it gave her a sense of safety in the shadows of the eerie night.

From the ignorant view of an onlooker, Zelda had the spoiled life of a princess, she was the peak of perfection. She was set high on a pedestal and petted with jewels, dresses, and any prince she would like. None would ever know of the inescapable dejection Zelda felt under the title of "untouchable" by the lower class. It was hard to believe that she would give up her entire life of royalty, the only life she had known, only so she could live a life of normality. Solitude had driven her to the brink of insanity, twisting her soul into an unrecognizable mass of emotions.

The day had already begun to age as Zelda stood, gazing across her father's dominion. The vines of ivy that had once trailed the terrace of the balcony had grown lifeless and brown, drifting away like sands on the wind. Everything Zelda could remember was beginning to wear away as her home became a tragic kingdom. Even the new day had already been stained by sins. 

Night. She waited for night.

Link stood in the courtyard, bathing in the sun's rays. Being near Zelda, even in the same room, sent chills through his body, shattering his image of bravery. Could this be the enemy he can not defeat? Zelda's insanity? It was driving him mad as well, as her sickness radiated into his body. Was Zelda incurable? He softly kicked over a mound of red dirt with a boyish anger. How could he save the princess before she withered away completely?

Quiet footsteps penetrated the serenity of the courtyard's haven. Link's head shot up, believing it was Zelda, and prepared himself to hide. But it was only an elderly woman.

"I remember these stones when they were once fresh beneath my feet." The old lady uttered.

"You lived here?" Link said, uninterested.

"Oh yes, many a year ago, the halls have changed since then, but the courtyard...has...remained..." She began to trail off.

"Many things in Hyrule have changed." _Foolish old hag, _Link thought.

"Not everything. The fate of a princess has not." The woman's voice began to quicken.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Link was now apparently interested. "Who are you?" He began to grow suspicious. Something about this woman was odd, out of place...

"Ah, nothing, I'm just an foolish old hag, what would I know?"

_Could she have...? Did she hear me?_ Link grew uncomfortable, as if he was in the presence of someone important, someone honorable.

"I demand of you your name. Or I shall call the guards. Trespassing on royal grounds is forbidden." Link was growing angry.

"Then you had better be careful yourself."

He brushed by the lady, storming back into the palace. But her meek voice drifted into his earshot.

"They called me Annia. Before...I..."

"Well, I bid you farewell..."

"Whisper to her."

"What?!" Link stopped walking.

"Zelda, she used to always listen when I whispered to her in her sleep. That will mend what had gone array." 

Link whisked around, but the woman was gone.

Baffled, Link backed away slowly into the palace. Later that night, when Zelda was sleeping restlessly, he snuck to her bedside, trembling with cold. He stretched his shivering hand to her face and stroked her wet cheek. Before he realized what he was doing, he began whispering.

"Zelda, it's me, Link. I've been worried about you. Everyone has. Where are you?"

Zelda moaned.

"Away." 

"Come back."

"I...can't..."

"Yes you can. I believe in you. Hyrule believes in you." Link's voice became choked with tears.

"I need help..." Zelda's sleep became disturbed.

"I'll be here in the morning...we shall see the world together!"

"Too...many...broken promises."

"I swear by the fire of Din, I will keep my promise." Link moved in closer. "Do you trust me?" His eager eyes were full with tears.

"Yes." Zelda rolled over and fell back into a peaceful sleep.

"The world has missed you, my lady." Link left the room quietly, with a small grin on his face.

The next morning, Impa raced into the bright courtyard to meet Link.

"How did you do it?"

"Do what?" Link asked, bewildered.

"I haven't seen Zelda smile for months, and yet, she did it freely today!" Impa was ecstatic with happiness. Link found it amusing.

"Oh let's just say, my secret will never be above a whisper." Link's eyes were glistening with life for the first time in many months.

"Huh?" 

"Impa, now tell me, do you know an elderly woman named Annia?" Impa's eyes grew dark. "She was thin, long grayish blonde hair, teal eyes. Have you seen her?"

"..." Impa began to grow detached.

  
  


"Link, I..." 

"Who is it?"

"Annia was Zelda's mother"

"What?"

"She died eighteen years ago..."

  
  


-Rosaceae

  
  


Oooooooo! Creepy! Anyway, The last part was kinda rushed, my brother was bugging me to get off the computer, but oh well. Please read and review! I'll love you for it!!! I will I will!


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